Look at Me!

Introduction

Matthew chapter 6. I want to talk to you. The title of today’s lesson is Look at Me. And I don’t mean me, of course, but this is the attitude that the Pharisees had. Look at me. You know, the Sermon on the Mount, this is right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount that we have our text in Matthew 6, 1 through 18. The Sermon on the Mount is a radical lesson. And really all of Jesus’ teaching was radical, and that’s because it got to the heart of things. He got to the to the root of the matter. And nowhere does Jesus get nearer to the marrow of the bone than he does here in the heart of this Sermon on the Mount when he addresses our motives.

Now at the end of chapter 5, after he talks about all these different things that stand in our way of becoming like God wants us to be, and even talks about there at the end, you know, loving even our enemies, then why are we to do that? What’s the what’s the motivating factor? Verse 48, therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And that should be our goal. You know, we don’t need to just ask ourselves, you know, well, do I go to all the assemblies? And do I take the Lord’s Supper? And do I read my Bible and do I pray? Really, what we need to ask is, Am I becoming more and more like my Father? And if that is not our ultimate goal, all of these things that we’re doing for God ultimately become rituals.

And they become meaningless until we realize that all these things that we are to be doing are designed by God to cause us to become more and more like He is. And so we see them not as rituals. We see them as a very practical thing that we are to do to become like our Father. And all this is the Lord’s way of changing our lives. You ask the question, how do you get people to change their behavior? You know, as a preacher, I’ve had to kind of struggle with that for years. Well, you take somebody that’s this behavior needs to be fixed, and you work on that part of their behavior that needs to be fixed. That’s the natural, straightforward approach. Well, you know, that’ll work if you’re dealing with somebody that has totally made up their mind that they want to be perfect as their Heavenly Father is perfect, that they seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

But if you’re not dealing with somebody that has totally made up their mind that that’s what they want to do, and you’re trying to help them learn about the importance of coming to the assembly or the importance of this or that, then we’re we’re speaking the Chinese to somebody that doesn’t speak Chinese. We’re speaking a language they can’t understand because they haven’t made up their mind. They want to serve God first and foremost. Once you do that, then you fix the problem. You don’t just fix the symptoms. You know, I went to the doctor recently for my elbow. I’ve got x-rays done, MRI done. I’ve had this elbow problem going on for years. And he tells me, well, you’ve got arthritis in your elbow. Oh, well, that’s great news.

Uh so what can I do about that? Well, sorry, there’s nothing you can do about it. Here, take this pill. It’ll help the pain, it’ll help the swelling. Came back the next time. He said, Have you been taking your pill? I said, No. He said, Why not? I said, I don’t want to treat the symptoms. I want to fix the problem. He said, There’s no way to fix the problem. Well, I don’t believe him. I’m going to find a way to fix the problem. But, you know, sometimes we’re like that in our Christian lives that what we do is we treat the symptoms. Oh, well, this little thing over here needs to fix it. If we’re not fixing the root problem, then we’re going to continue to have those same symptoms.

1. Beware of Practicing Your Righteousness Before Men

And so that’s what we all have to realize about ourselves and when we’re dealing with others. And that’s what Jesus realized, and Jesus’ simple teaching cut right to the marrow of the bone as he deals with the heart of a person and what we’re really after. And so, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6, verses 1 through 18, Jesus condemns prideful motives for serving God. And he says in verse 1, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So he’s not just talking here about what we do, but why we do it. Don’t practice your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. We must not serve God in order to be noticed by people.

And when Jesus uses the word righteousness, that is translated in some versions as charitable deeds or alms. But that’s not a good translation because the word that’s translated righteousness in the New American Standard and other versions is the same word that’s translated righteousness in the Beatitudes, and the same word that’s translated righteousness in Matthew 5 and verse 20 that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees and so forth. So the word here should be righteousness.

Now, in chapter 5, chapter 5 is all about this the Godward life. And the first problem that Jesus addresses in the very first expression and the most important sermon that has ever been preached is blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So the first problem he addresses is that problem of pride. And we see that problem again here in Matthew 6, verses 1 through 18. The issue is not about whether we’re going to serve God or whether we’re going to serve others. The issue is whether we’re going to serve God or whether we’re going to serve ourselves. And that’s at the heart of what Jesus gets at in this section. Jesus uses three topics to illustrate the point. And number one is giving to the poor.

Number two is prayer. And number three is fasting. Now certainly the Jews were very aware of these things. They were aware that this was part of their duty toward God. Fasting was only required, of course, one day a year on the Day of Atonement, but as a nation they did it regularly and individually, people did it regularly as well. Well, the Pharisees were, they were also aware of these things, and they were good at these things. They gave, you know, ostentatiously, and they gave a lot. They were very generous in their giving. There’s no doubt about that. They prayed a lot, especially publicly. And they fasted. Remember in Luke 18 when the Pharisee says, I fast twice a week. So this was part of their regular life.

But what was the thing that motivated him to do these things? They did them only to be noticed by men. And God can see straight through to our hearts, as Jesus could with these Pharisees. And one question we have to ask is how could people so proud and arrogant as these Pharisees be interested in religion at all? What does religion have to offer them? Well, for every ounce of supposed religiosity that they’d invested, they would get a pound of food for their ego. And so religion was just a way of glorifying themselves. So they had a lot of use for that. The devil can turn our worship into an absolute arrogant act, so that our motives become shallow at best and repugnant at worst, so that we come to church, not because it’s what God wants us to do, but because it’s just what mom and dad said I have to do, or it’s because there’s some cute boy or cute girl here that I want to be around, or I want to impress people.

I want my family or whoever to be impressed that I’m religious and I’m a good little boy, or I’m a good little girl.

Is that our motive for why we do what we do? Because if it is, then we’re wasting our time. We need to have the right heart and motive. The heart of righteousness is as chapter 5 and verse 16 says, it is to glorify God who is in heaven. It is as chapter 5 and verse 48 says, to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. It is as chapter 6 and verse 33 says, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That should be our ultimate motive, and that’s what’s at the heart of serving God. So it’s not just what we do, it’s why we do it. And so we’re first we’re going to look at giving in verses 2 through 4. Jesus says this.

2. Giving to the Poor

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Now, is the point, you know, where we give? Well, I know what to get away from this passage, get from this passage. Uh, I don’t need to give in some public way in the synagogues, in the street corners. Well, that’s where the poor and the beggars were.

That’s where giving should be done. It’s not a matter of where to give, really. What’s at the heart of this is motive. What was it that you were motivated by in your giving? And it should be only to please uh to please God. It’s in your attitude. You know, I will be amazed if any one of you can come to me and tell me, I never have a problem with wanting uh praise for my good deeds and my charitable actions. I never want my deeds, you know, sufficiently publicized so that people hear about it. I never want to hear at least a thank you for what I did. I will be amazed if you say that to me. We tend to want some kind of recognition when we do deeds of kindness.

I can remember in college uh that there was this group of people that would go and do these extravagant, you know, deeds of kindness for people. And uh, but nobody knew who they were. They were anonymous. And it was a huge investment of time and money and all this that they would pour into these, into these actions, but nobody knew who they were. It could have been the person sitting next to you as you were in chapel listening to the talk. You just didn’t know. And I remember thinking, you know, that that would be kind of hard for me. And I’m sad to say that that was true. I hope that I’ve grown out of that. But would that be hard for you to do something that nobody’s gonna know that you did and be able to say thank you, but you know that God saw.

You see, this is not a choice between ostentation and isolation or between the stage or the monastery. It’s a choice between whether we’re gonna do God’s will or our will, whether our service to God is done for our sake or to elevate God. And since we have this tendency and this temptation, therefore we must battle continually against this temptation to make sure we don’t become like the Pharisees. And this is in some ways continuing the theme that Greg started last Sunday. Now, not only should we not announce our charitable deeds before others, sounding a trumpet as it were, but we also should announce it to ourselves. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. You know, we like to keep mental lists of all the good things we’ve done.

And we revisit those things perhaps in our mind. You know, what we got to realize is that the good deeds of yesterday are nothing. They’re gone. You remember the passage of Philippians 3 starting in verse 13, where it has that point about one thing I do, Paul says, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to the things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. Of course, we all know that passage. Well, in the context, of course, Paul there is dealing with the fact that he gave up all of these things in his former life as a Pharisee, this exalted things. He gave them up. So forget those things which are behind. And we might go in and make application of, well, if we’ve sinned and repented of that sin and obtained forgiveness, then we need to forget what lies behind because it can prevent us from being what we need to be in the future.

But do we also stop to make application of, we need to forget about the good things we’ve done. Do we make that application? Forget about those good things that you did yesterday and all the time before in your life. They don’t matter anymore. We need to serve God heedlessly for the motive that He is God. And that alone being our motive. And have the attitude that we’re an unprofitable servant, doing only what we are expected to do and nothing more. Sometimes even while we’re doing a deed of kindness, we’re thinking, and I hope this is not true. I don’t have evidence that this is true of anybody here. Okay. But make sure that you don’t have this attitude that while you’re doing some special thing, that you’re thinking, boy, I really, you know, I’m I’m really special for doing this.

3. Prayer: The Motive and the Manner

I’m really a special somebody. Because most brethren wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now. You know what we are when we do that? Pharisees. We need to guard against Phariseism as much as we need to guard against anything else. Well then Jesus, after dealing with giving, he deals with prayer in verses 5 through 15. And so in verses 5 and 6, he says, When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room. Close your door and pray to your father who’s in secret.

And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Okay, well, I know what he was talking about. He was talking about public praying versus private praying. That’s the issue. And so, as long as we’re not praying publicly and we make sure we do it privately, then we’re okay. That’s not the point. That’s not really at the heart of what Jesus is talking about. Well, I know what he’s talking about. He’s talking about standing in prayer versus some other position. No, that’s not at the heart of the matter either. That’s not the point. The point here is motive. What is our motive for our praying? It’s bad enough when we turn our service to others into an activity that feeds our ego. But how much more shameful when we are taking this matter of prayer by which we are approaching the very throne of God and we take that and throw our pride in God’s very face.

And that is that is really a terrible thing. And who are we fooling? We’re fooling, we’re fooling men, maybe. We’re fooling ourselves, but we’re certainly not, we’re certainly not going to fool God with that. So the motive of prayer. Well, Jesus then transitions and talks about a related issue where he’s talking about the manner of prayer. As he begins saying in verse 7, and when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition. As the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So these meaningless repetitions, you know, this repetitions of mindless formulas, you know, to the Gentiles, to the pagans, it was all in the formula.

And I mean, that was really the key, was the formula. It wasn’t about a personal communication or relationship with their gods. They wanted to utter this formula and make sure and get all the names right and get all the details right, and they wanted to say it over and over until their God finally started paying attention to it. Just think of Elijah on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal and crying out from morning all the way till evening to their God. It just went on and on and intensified as the day went on and still nothing happened. What this involves is a wrong view of God. These are repetitions of mindless formulas. See, the Gentiles thought our God doesn’t hear. We need to make sure and say this enough until he knows what’s going on with us.

God already knows. So are we multiplying our words thinking that there’s some magic in that? Maybe he’ll pay attention to me now that I prayed a long one. And boy, do we have our formulas. And I don’t mean the Hail Marys and the My Fathers of other religious people. I mean among us. And formulas are not in and of themselves wrong. But do we think about them? Guide, guard, and direct us. Do you know that guide and direct mean exactly the same thing? Guide, guard, and direct us. Why not just guard and guide us? Because that’s not our formula. Nothing wrong with saying it, brethren. I’m not saying it’s wrong to repeat the same idea twice. But do we stop to think about what we’re saying?

Bring us back at the next appointed time. Do we picture that suddenly when it’s church time that swarms of angels are going to grab us by the collar and bring us back at the next appointed time? I’m not trying to poke fun at, you know, it’s fine to say those words as long as we think about what we really mean when we’re saying them. In Jesus’ name, amen. I think sometimes we’re in a rush to see just how fast we can say that. Especially when we’re sitting in front of a hot meal. And man, that food smells good. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let’s get to it. Wait a minute. In Jesus’ name is significant. Think about what you’re saying. When you say amen, think about what you’re saying.

This is not about just public praying, brethren. We can take these same mindless, meaningless repetitions and insert them into our private prayer life. And is there some magic? You know, there’s certainly nothing wrong about praying long prayers. Did Jesus not pray a long prayer in Luke 6 and verse 12? Well, he prayed all night. That’s a pretty long prayer. Mark 1, he wakes up before the sun comes out, goes out to some private place and he prays there for probably hours. We have many examples of Jesus doing that. So there’s nothing wrong with praying long prayers, but the thing we need to ask ourselves is why am I praying this long prayer? Is it because I think I need to inform God because he doesn’t know?

Is it because I think he won’t pay attention to me until I utter enough words, and then once I reach that threshold of that now it’s a long prayer, well, then he’ll pay attention to me. I sometimes think we have a wrong headed idea when we say we want to get everybody to pray about this matter so that we can storm the gates of heaven. As if one simple prayer wouldn’t storm the gates of heaven. What we need is multiple prayers because God won’t listen to one or two. He needs to hear a whole bunch, a whole lot. That’s a misunderstanding of the nature of our God. We’re thinking of our God in the way the pagans did, when we think in those terms. And so Jesus says, don’t pray with meaningless repetitions like the Gentiles do.

This is how he says to pray. Beginning in verse 9. Pray then in this way, our Father who is in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven those who are indebted to us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Then he says, For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. We can make a lot of points about the model prayer. And I’ve preached a lesson here on the model prayer. There’s a lot of things we can get out of that, but one thing I just want us to do is step back and notice this.

4. Whenever You Fast

It was a simple prayer from the heart. As opposed to the meaningless babbling of the Gentiles that went on and on and on and on and on. Jesus said it’s better to just offer a simple prayer from the heart. And we need to remember that, whether we’re in public or whether in private, it all goes back to what’s in our heart. Well, once Jesus deals there with prayer, he then moves to the third subject, which is fasting, which is really not another subject. The same subject is pride, is running through all of these. But in verses 16 through 18, Jesus says, Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting.

Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who’s in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. You know, this is a topic we’re not very comfortable with, right? Fasting. Well, that’s because we don’t do it. Uh the early church did it. Uh in Acts 13 and verse 2, the teachers of the church in Antioch fasted. In Acts 14 and verse 23, Paul and Barnabas, when appointing elders in every church in the area of Galatia, they fasted and prayed. So we’re not comfortable. But see, that’s that’s not really the issue anyway.

That’s not really the subject. What’s the subject? Motive. Motive. It’s a difficult matter for somebody to know that you’re fasting. You know, think about giving might be a little easier for somebody to know you did. Praying is maybe easier for some people to know that you’re doing. But fasting is one of the hardest things for people to know that you’re doing. Because it involves just things you don’t do. You don’t eat, you don’t drink. Things like that. And so, since it was so difficult for people to know about, the Pharisees made a concentrated effort to bend over backwards so that everybody would know, hey, I’m fasting. And they went around looking like they had pulled their heads through a knothole backwards and just looking all miserable, and they they didn’t wash their face and they didn’t take care of their personal hygiene.

And you know, you ever seen one of the uh a bumper sticker that said, Please ask me about my grandchildren on the back of a vehicle? Well, they might as well have had a sticker on their back that said, Please ask me why I’m fasting. Please ask me why I’m miserable. Oh, it’s because I’m righteous and I’m trying to serve the Lord. That’s why. We need to be careful that we don’t wear a sticker like that on our backs, that we don’t walk around and do things in a way that’s sort of contort it and in such a way that, you know, it really wouldn’t be noticeable, but if I do this, then people really will know. And I’ll get a little bit of recognition now because of that.

I need to watch out for this. Of all people, preachers need to watch out for this. So trust me, brethren. I’m talking to myself. And I see Mr. Bob nodding his head over there. Any preacher knows that. We all have to battle pride. And we all have to be careful that we don’t become Pharisees. But what Jesus said to do is make a concentrated effort so people won’t know. He said, you go and you take care of yourself. You don’t walk around looking miserable. You wash your face, you anoint your head. And so we don’t need to have the motive that people will see us. Now that kind of brings up a question which I want to answer as we go into our final section here on observations.

5. The Sin Is Whether One Wants to Be Seen

The sin that Jesus condemns is not whether one is seen practicing righteousness.

And starting in verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on the lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your fathers in heaven. So there he says, make sure men see your good works. In chapter 6 and verse 1, he says, Beware of practicing righteousness before men to be noticed by them. So what’s the difference? Over here he says, make sure people see what you do. Over here he says, make sure people don’t see what you do. The difference is motive.

In chapter 5, the motive is for people to give God glory when they see the good deeds that I am doing. But is not doing them in such a way that I want people to see them so that I will get attention. So the sin is not whether one is seen practicing righteousness, but whether one wants to be seen. And why? Let me ask you, do you pray when you go to a restaurant with your family? Men, do you, as the head of the house, do you lead a prayer for your family? Probably a lot of us do. Well, people are going to see you. So I guess you’re sinning because you’re practicing your righteousness before men. No. But if you’re doing it to be noticed, then it’s wrong.

Because what if somebody comes up to you after the, you know, the meal or whatever and says, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I noticed that you prayed before your meal began, and I just really want to commend you for that. I just really appreciate that. How does that make you feel when you’re the one sitting down? And you’re the one who led that prayer. It makes you feel good, doesn’t it? Okay, I’ve been told to redirect back to where they can pick up my sound. So sorry about that. No movement like Greg. It goes all the way over there. That might make you feel pretty good. So what if the next time you went to a restaurant and sat down to pray?

You then began to think, well, I sure hope somebody notices, because that kind of felt good. You see, this applies in everything we do. And it comes down to our motive. Are we seeking to please men or are we seeking to please God? If the praise of men is what we want, then we are hypocrites. And that is the only reward that we’re going to get. But if pleasing God and pleasing God alone is our goal, then he will reward us, even when nobody else sees what we’re doing. And that reward will be more than worth it. What is that reward that he gives us? It is the reward of the kingdom of heaven, chapter 6 and in verse 20, just shortly after our text here.

But store of yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. That’s the motive that we attain heaven, as chapter 6 and verse 1 says, beware of practicing righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So it’s being with our God that is our ultimate drive and motive as Christians. But it’s not just that, it’s richer and fuller yet, because there is a reward now. There is also a reward of attaining that righteousness of serving God. That’s a reward in of itself, as chapter 5 and verse 6 says. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied, because they have attained that righteousness that they were hungry and thirsty for.

In verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God, simply to be regarded as a son of God is a reward in and of itself. As verse 48 says, therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. So we and we can attain some likeness of our God. That’s a reward. And so when you think of the reward that God gives us, is that something that just sends chills down our spine and motivates us? Is that something that keeps us awake at night and that wakes us up in the morning? Is that our driving, motivating factor in life? And is that our motivation for why we do the things that we do for God? Is that why you’re here this morning?

Conclusion

Because if it’s not, then this is all an exercise of futility. We must get to the point where we are so motivated by God’s reward and not by man’s reward that we fling ourselves completely into service of God, heedless of our own pride, heedless of whatever personal considerations would keep us from pursuing the goal of heaven, and we must pursue his will first and foremost. I want to tell you that’s radical. And our Savior was radical, and his teaching was radical. You know, we want to serve God, but we don’t want to give up everything. How else can you serve the God of heaven than giving up everything? The God who gives life, breath, and all things. The God who created the universe and upholds it, the God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

The God who will judge the world in righteousness. How else can we serve a God like that without giving ourselves totally to Him and coming to Him empty and poor in spirit? Empty of our pride and of anything that we could fill ourselves with. God must be the one to fill us. We come to Him in wholeness of heart and in fullness of spirit. So, brethren, don’t serve yourself when you come to serve God. Serve God. And forget about yourself.

And then and only then will you find that true peace and that true happiness and that joy that we are supposed to have as Christians. Because we can’t short circuit this. We either give God all or we give him nothing. Would you bow your head with me in prayer? Our Father, our God, we praise you, and we thank you so much for your grace, for your mercy, and we glorify your name. In your Son we pray. Amen. Take your song books, please, and still used to that, sorry.

And I hope that we don’t come away from this just thinking, well, those are some good thoughts, but thinking, how can that change me? If you want to be changed fully and completely, it’s a process. But it begins by coming to the Lord and submitting yourself fully to him. Just make up your mind. I’m going to give myself to the Lord and surrender all. When you do that, you come into Him in faith, repenting of your sins, being baptized, then continue to walk faithfully, knowing that He is the one that’s going to save you through the Holy Spirit in the end with His grace and through His mercy. Won’t you come to Him in loving faith, trusting our Savior to save your soul? Won’t you become a Christian today?

As we stand and sing the song of invitation.